Now that hurricane Sandy has come and gone and experts are staring to assess the damage, the Frankenstorm as it was called by weather experts has caused untold billions of dollars worth of damage to The Jersey shore and big resort areas such as Atlantic City and the boardwalk, to New York City and to the interiors of these states and beyond. And we do have to ask, could the storm add to the possibility of economic collapse soon since we are already facing huge financial challenges in this country?

Some are saying this could be the most expensive disaster in the history of the United States and others are saying somewhere around $60 billion could be the total damage costs. But there are two things at least right now about that total, first, there hasn't been long enough to fully assess the situation. This was a huge storm and it covered such a large area, maybe even larger than that of Hurricane Katrina that cost around $105 billion in total damage. It may take days just to get a full understanding of the extent of the situation officials and residents are facing.

And the second thing these destruction costs don't take into account for is the lost wages, productivity and business costs from not being able to earn a paycheck and for businesses not being able to serve customers. People won't be earning paychecks and businesses won't be earning any money to pay them for months to years. All those estimates we always hear just take into account the destruction of property and don't count the ongoing economic cost.

See the photos below:

Damage to Atlantic City Pier

More Damage to Atlantic City Pier

Fire that destroyed 80 or more homes in Queens

These ongoing economic costs are just that, they are ongoing and they aren't fixed in a few days or even a few weeks. There are some areas in New Jersey as there were in Mississippi and Louisiana after hurricane Katrina that are going to take years to rebuild and the only economic activity going on in those areas for some time will be cleanup and then construction without all of the regular economic activity that feeds those jobs.

Obviously people do recover from these storms and obviously we have had a lot of them for many years, but being that our economy is on the precipice right now, hurricane Sandy will be remembered for years and could be one more nail in the coffin of our financial demise and economic collapse before soon.